Can we redesign the MRCGP assessment to support lifelong learning?

Licensing assessments, such as the UK Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP), need to do more than ensure minimal levels of competence have been achieved. They should aid the development of lifelong learning skills. The summative components of the assessment create large amounts of data, which are reduced to binary pass-fail decisions ignoring the candidates very different profiles of strengths and weakness. Learners are largely unreceptive to feedback after summative assessments. Workplace-based assessments have not produced the learning benefits that were intended. The current assessment culture is rooted in behaviourist traditions, which focus on simple rewards and punishments. This fails to support ongoing learning. A more constructivist approach is needed to support receptivity to feedback and learning. An 'assessment for learning' culture could be developed by adopting programmatic assessment, as successfully implemented elsewhere. This article argues that the current UK MRCGP assessment could be adapted in line with the principles of programmatic assessment. Changing the assessment culture will be hard, because of fixed beliefs in summative assessment, but it is vital to help develop lifelong learning skills.